FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON made its first appearance as a short story which was rapidly and widely anthologized, and translated internationally. It received further acclaimed as a memorable television drama, and as a motion picture production. Now, full-bodied and richly peopled, FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON is the daring novel of a startling human experiment!
(back cover)
Charly pasa de estar desconectado por falta de inteligencia, a estarlo por su abundancia.
En ese punto el cuento es increíble: la inteligencia no está relacionada con la capacidad de conectar con otros, como no lo está la estatura o el color de pelo. Y sin embargo, termina teniendo efectos en la conexión que los otros nos permiten establecer.
Los mismos que querían a Charly cerca para reirse de él, piden que lo despidan cuando él se vuelve más inteligente que ellos, porque le temen.
Me gusta también que el cuento no juzga, lo que pasa es así porque el mundo es así, no se trata de hablar de gente mala y gente buena, sino solo de como es la gente en general.
Leímos el cuento "Flores para Algernon" en la edición número 54 de nuestro Club de #LecturaMastodontica
Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This is my second time to read this since I was probably 14 or 15 when I found it on my mom's bookshelf.
Of course a lot of parallels with addiction stood out to me now. Drugs usually blunt emotional development to some extent, and there is a lot of emotional development to be done when first in recovery. That's quite like Charlie's emotional development lagging far behind his sudden increase in intelligence.
I also noticed the theme of the past always creeping back into your current reality and causing issues.
P.S. I didn't think I would cry, but I forgot the punch that the ending brings to your gut.
This was part of my middle school curriculum. I initially read it in seventh grade and a few times later in my early teens. This is one of the few books that I have a full memory of. It haunted me. It still does. Is it better to have something and lose it or never have it at all?
Review of 'Kwiaty dla Algernona (Polish Edition)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Myślałam, że to będzie bardzo w klimacie science fiction, a to piękna powieść o człowieku, o tym, co znaczy być człowiekiem, o przekraczaniu granic, o niepełnosprawności i o szacunku dla drugiego człowieka. Bardzo ją polecam.
This was a great book! It is clear why it won so many awards. You know the conclusion almost immediately, but the tale is gripping and interesting enough for you to see how it gets there. Flowers for Algernon is about love, loss, and most importantly self-discovery. My only complaint is that the book is a bit slow to start with all the bad grammar but that comes with the territory. All in all recommended.
This was a difficult read, with bullying, child abuse and the general attitude to learning difficulties at the time. But I think it was well done, and when I didn't like smart Charlie I felt like it was purposeful.
Goodness gracious. So many themes are touched on in this book, and I think I'll be haunted for some time to come by the ideas raised.
I'm a sucker for both an epistolary-style novel (which this classifies as, given the diary format) and the bildungsroman genre which I can also see reflected in the type of story it is, albeit not perfectly—so if either of those butter your biscuits well dangit bring out the tea cause these biscuits are ready to be eaten, buttered and all!!
Recommended read for many reasons, and not only because it's hard to let go of once started.
Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
4.5 stars, really. For some reason, I lump this book with "Catcher in the Rye" and "A Confederacy of Dunces," I think something with a fish out of water story in mid-century New York. With this comparison, Flowers for Algernon greatly benefits. I enjoyed it the whole time. I liked the cyclical nature of the story. It was bittersweet, edging on the sweet.
I had been assigned a watered-down adaptation of this in Junior High, so I went into this with some knowledge of what the general arc would be. What I didn't expect is that I would be reading until the sun came up, bawling my eyes out, absolutely shaken.
From the very first page, I liked Charlie Gordon. He comes across as innocent and sweet, with good intentions and a very one-dimensional frame of reference to the world. There's a few moments where people ask Charlie things that made me chuckle, like his initial confusion at the Rorschach test, but his attitude is strangely endearing.
The prose in this book is phenomenal. The gradual narrative shift from crude writing to eloquent philosophical insight is kind of an amazing writing trick, and the development of Charlie's awareness is hypnotic to watch.
In a way, I was kind …
Poignant, sad, and deeply insightful
I had been assigned a watered-down adaptation of this in Junior High, so I went into this with some knowledge of what the general arc would be. What I didn't expect is that I would be reading until the sun came up, bawling my eyes out, absolutely shaken.
From the very first page, I liked Charlie Gordon. He comes across as innocent and sweet, with good intentions and a very one-dimensional frame of reference to the world. There's a few moments where people ask Charlie things that made me chuckle, like his initial confusion at the Rorschach test, but his attitude is strangely endearing.
The prose in this book is phenomenal. The gradual narrative shift from crude writing to eloquent philosophical insight is kind of an amazing writing trick, and the development of Charlie's awareness is hypnotic to watch.
In a way, I was kind of reminded of the story of Faust, where a man tries to use his seemingly unlimited knowledge to get out of an inevitable outcome. I'd argue that Charlie is a far more sympathetic character, but watching his mind develop and deteriorate, along with his strained efforts to work against time, made for one hell of a roller coaster.
Beautiful, beautiful story. I haven't cried like that in a while.
A short yet very touching story. Not much to expect but there is something about inevitability and doom there that makes me consider how life really works.
Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
I enjoyed the book. It's very short. Less than an hour to read. I was very afraid at the start as there were misspelled words and a lack of punctuation but quickly realized that it was intention (i thought it was bad ocr, even from amazon).
Overall a very powerful book. Very interesting look at intelligence. Echoes a lot of what I have been thinking. I'll admit I teared up at the end.
Review of 'Flowers for Algernon (Bantam Classic)' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
Si dans votre entourage vous avez des personnes qui n’ont un mauvais a priori sur le SF, offrez-leur ce livre, cela leur montrera l’étendue des thèmes d’une genre aussi vaste que profond. Avec ce roman on touche au sublime. Une histoire poignante, celle d’un jeune homme attardé mental, qui souhaite plus que tout devenir intelligent. Une fois son rêve réalisé, il prend conscience du monde qui l’entoure, des individus, et aussi de lui-même en tant qu’être humain, avec son passé, et ses souvenirs jusque là refoulés. Si son intelligence intellectuelle devient supérieure à la moyenne et lui donne une capacité d’apprentissage phénoménale, s[b:on intelligence|1185416|La Voie et sa vertu = Tao-tê-king (Points Sagesses ; 16 ISSN 0339-4239)|Laozi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181735892s/1185416.jpg|100074] émotionnelle reste inchangée, et le nouveau Charlie se débat entre ses deux personnalités. Il se rend compte que l’ancien Charlie n’était pas considéré comme un humain à part entière mais comme un sous-homme dépourvu …
Si dans votre entourage vous avez des personnes qui n’ont un mauvais a priori sur le SF, offrez-leur ce livre, cela leur montrera l’étendue des thèmes d’une genre aussi vaste que profond. Avec ce roman on touche au sublime. Une histoire poignante, celle d’un jeune homme attardé mental, qui souhaite plus que tout devenir intelligent. Une fois son rêve réalisé, il prend conscience du monde qui l’entoure, des individus, et aussi de lui-même en tant qu’être humain, avec son passé, et ses souvenirs jusque là refoulés. Si son intelligence intellectuelle devient supérieure à la moyenne et lui donne une capacité d’apprentissage phénoménale, s[b:on intelligence|1185416|La Voie et sa vertu = Tao-tê-king (Points Sagesses ; 16 ISSN 0339-4239)|Laozi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1181735892s/1185416.jpg|100074] émotionnelle reste inchangée, et le nouveau Charlie se débat entre ses deux personnalités. Il se rend compte que l’ancien Charlie n’était pas considéré comme un humain à part entière mais comme un sous-homme dépourvu de sentiment.
Le récit, construit sous la forme d’un journal, décrit l’évolution puis la terrible régression de Charlie. Ses premiers compte-rendus reflètent sa personnalité enfantine et naïve, bourré de fautes d’orthographe et de syntaxe. Le texte devient de plus en plus clair et cohérent au fur et à mesure que les effets de l’expérience s’intensifient. Sa régression n’en est que plus pénible et douloureuse, on assiste à la déchéance intellectuelle d’un homme qui fut un attardé puis un génie, un homme amoureux, et avide de connaissances.
L’histoire nous démontre que l’intelligence “intellectuelle” n’est pas ce qui nous définit, que l’émotionnelle et l’humain sont des facteurs essentiels à la construction d’un individu, et que l’intelligence ne fait pas tout, loin de là. Difficile à lire sur la fin, car particulièrement fort et bouleversant, alors pour peu que vous souffriez comme moi d’empathie, sortez les mouchoirs.
